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BlackFox
Half-elven
Jan 1 2016, 9:55am
Post #1 of 37
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When did you find Tolkien?
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How old were you when you discovered/became a fan of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien?
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Smaug the iron
Gondor
Jan 1 2016, 10:05am
Post #2 of 37
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when I was about 13 years old. And the reason I started reading them was that AUJ was coming out that year, so I wonted to read the hobbit before I so the film, and after I read the hobbit I started with LOTR.
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Ilmatar
Rohan
Jan 1 2016, 10:36am
Post #3 of 37
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- I guess that just qualifies "as a child." I read Lord of the Rings first, and after that I discovered that there was the Hobbit to read as well.
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Sarahbor
Lorien
Jan 1 2016, 1:29pm
Post #4 of 37
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as a child (8-ish maybe), but didn't read LOTR until the films came out when I was 12. I read FOTR after the movie came out, but read TTT and ROTK before their films were released, and then read the Silmarillion and HoME. My mom read and loved the books when she was a kid, but I didn't discover LOTR until the films, which I absolutely loved. I had never seen anything like them before (or since!) And the same's true of the books!
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Jan 1 2016, 2:41pm
Post #5 of 37
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when my older brother said, here's a book you should read, and handed me The Hobbit.
I remember then going to the bookstore to find the LotR paperbacks, coming across the Ace and Ballantine editions, and standing there reading the blurb on the back of the Ballantines about respecting an author by purchasing the authorized editions. Yes, of course, Mr. Tolkien!
That was in '65 or '66...Sadly, I no longer have those original paperbacks, they fell apart after about the 20th re-reading...I wish I'd had the sense to bag them up and keep them!
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Bracegirdle
Valinor
Jan 1 2016, 2:53pm
Post #6 of 37
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Didn't know he was lost . . . Ba-boom 
Seriously, I was 28. But that was 46 years ago. 
Happy New Year One and All . . .  
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jan 1 2016, 3:00pm
Post #7 of 37
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In grammar school I found "Riddles in the Dark" in our Fourth Grade Reader. I don't remember if it was the original version or the revised chapter, but I think it might have been the latter.
For perspective, this would have been in 1969, three years after Gene Deitch's animated short of The Hobbit premiered.
(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Jan 1 2016, 3:06pm)
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sevilodorf
Tol Eressea
Jan 1 2016, 4:10pm
Post #8 of 37
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I'll leave you to guess the age.....actually ended up somehow permanently "borrowing" The Two Towers from my English teacher (sorry, Mr. Holmes)... three copies later (one I bought from used book sales , one I bought new and one was given as a gift when my family finally decided that indulging my obsession with "those movies" made giving me gifts easy --- thus the Pez dispensers, the Tshirts, the movie tickets, the posters, the action figures, the Burger King light up goblets, the soda cans, the legos ....
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jan 1 2016, 4:38pm
Post #9 of 37
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my ninth-grade English teacher handed me a battered paperback copy of FOTR and said "here, I think you'll like this."
I read the entire trilogy in 2-1/2 days, barely stopping to eat or sleep. I was so reluctant to leave Middle-Earth when I was done that I re-read it immediately (taking a little longer this time) and then a third time, so three reads in the span of a couple of weeks.
But I didn't discover the Appendices and the final parts of the tale for some time. What a wonderful moment that was . . . "there's more!"
I've now read it over 60 times.
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OldestDaughter
Gondor
Jan 1 2016, 5:37pm
Post #10 of 37
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But didn't love it until I was twelve! My parents liked it (my mom loved it) but I was too afraid of Gollum when I was little so I was afraid of it! But almost seven years ago when I was twelve, I got into our Hobbit Video Game from 2003 and it made me want to read the books! I read the Hobbit in about a month, then got right into the LOTR's. When I was reading about Helm's Deep in the book, I started watching the Fellowship of the Ring movie, and my mom was so happy that she had someone to love the movies with her! It gave me the push to finish the LOTR"s and pick up the Silmarillion, which it took me a few months to read, but I read it! Actually, since then, I've read the Hobbit twice, the Fellowship of the Ring almost three times(I'm still reading that to my sister) and The Silmarrillion twice. I've wanted to reread The Two Towers and Return of the King, but have been too busy.
(This post was edited by OldestDaughter on Jan 1 2016, 5:39pm)
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Starling
Half-elven
Jan 1 2016, 7:04pm
Post #11 of 37
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I am the one who voted 'other'.
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Jan 1 2016, 7:23pm
Post #12 of 37
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I'm intrigued about what 'other' entails.
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In utero?
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Jan 1 2016, 7:24pm
Post #13 of 37
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I was in the library, bored, and decided to give this Rings book a go and read FOTR, and loved it. Then I discovered there were two more books.
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Starling
Half-elven
Jan 1 2016, 7:34pm
Post #14 of 37
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In utero?
Nope, but I daresay there will be children of some people around here who may be able to answer that way in the future!
My 'other' is more like *cough* never...
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malickfan
Gondor
Jan 1 2016, 8:02pm
Post #15 of 37
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Aged 10(ish) after watching FOTR for the first time,
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Though I have vague memories of reading TH in primary school, which may or may not pre-date that.
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
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Jan 1 2016, 11:15pm
Post #16 of 37
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A cup of tea and a lie-down, that's what I need...
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dormouse
Half-elven
Jan 2 2016, 12:00pm
Post #17 of 37
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On first glance I thought the question was....
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Where did you find Tolkien.....
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sevilodorf
Tol Eressea
Jan 2 2016, 4:00pm
Post #18 of 37
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Which is also important.. as is who introduced you....
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Did you find Tolkien in a school library? in your home? your parents' home? in the theater?
By chance in a bargain basement book sale? On sale at KMart (my first copy of the Silmarillion and my copy of The Letters of Tolkien came that way)
Under the Christmas tree? As a birthday present?
Through a friend? A teacher? a sibling? a parent?
Was it always part of your life? my granddaughter born in 1995 remembers going to FOTR movie with me and she went to TORN's The Last Party event and DOS pub moot in Hollywood.
Were you scarred by viewings of Bakshi or the animated versions and thus refused to read the books for years? If Bakshi had been my first intro to Tolkien that's what I would have done. I still remember walking out of the theater going... that's not right and where's the rest?
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Gianna
Rohan
Jan 2 2016, 4:09pm
Post #19 of 37
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Don't remember exactly how old I was
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But around 6-8 years old, when I read The Hobbit.
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dormouse
Half-elven
Jan 2 2016, 4:33pm
Post #20 of 37
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Funnily enough, I do remember that...
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... I discovered my first copy of The Hobbit in the library in Ilfracombe, Devon - which I can still picture quite clearly. I remember the librarian too - we used to argue about the books she thought I ought to be reading. I remember returning David Copperfield and telling her yes, I had read it all (she said I wouldn't be able to) but thought it became a bit dull once he'd grown up, and I despised Dora.
I was around seven or eight years old when I first read The Hobbit and was drawn to it by the dragon and the mention of a battle. I enjoyed it - fell in love with the Elvenking, found the dwarves grumpy, bearded and boring, except Fili and Kili. (I think I made allowances for them because they were the youngest and I was young enough to think that automatically made them more interesting.)
But in those days it was just one of many books I enjoyed. Tolkien didn't take over until I was thirteen, when my brother introduced me to Lord of the Rings.
I was bitterly disappointed with the Bakshi film, to the extent that I might not even have gone to see Fellowship if it hadn't been for the fact that Alan Lee and John Howe were involved.
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jan 2 2016, 4:44pm
Post #21 of 37
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I was at a summer camp run by the English teacher. Of course there was a great little library attached to one side of the main lodge, books on all sides with a couple of comfy old armchairs and a view out the French doors right onto the water. I curled up in one of the chairs & read, read, read until summoned to dinner, then went right back in afterward & read most of the night.
That's still my dream library.
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zarabia
Tol Eressea
Jan 3 2016, 1:07am
Post #22 of 37
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Wow! I'm late to the party :P I was thirty-something.
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My sister tried to get me interested when I was a kid, but her description didn't do it for me. Little mole-people living in the middle of the earth find a magic ring that makes you evil if you wear it, blah, blah, blah. 
But when I saw the preview for FOTR, I realized I should have listened to my sister all those years ago. I tried reading Fellowship in anticipation of the film but couldn't get past Regarding Hobbits and gave up. Fortunately I decided to try again but skipped ahead to The Long Expected Party...and fell immediately in love.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jan 3 2016, 7:30am
Post #23 of 37
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Another "other" vote, here. First, early-on (when LotR first came out, I was 30-ish), I read it and it was a good book (or three), but I wasn't hooked. When the movies came out, I was mildly interested, and saw FotR, and gave it about 3/5. But my son took me to TTT the next year, and then made me watch the FotR-EE, and I was totally hooked. So, then I had to re-read the books, and I'm in for life, now.
(This post was edited by Elizabeth on Jan 3 2016, 7:32am)
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imin
Valinor
Jan 3 2016, 5:34pm
Post #24 of 37
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jan 6 2016, 4:41pm
Post #25 of 37
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when a pen-pal suggested The Hobbit. I got a copy of FotR for my 13th birthday, having no idea that it wasn't a stand-alone book. When I finished it I raced to my junior-high library, but TTT was checked out so I skipped it and went on to RotK. I also bought "The Tolkien Reader" about that time, and wore it to tatters. There wasn't much else available at the time, though I did manage to find a copy of "Smith of Wooten Major". I bought the Tolkien calendars every year throughout the seventies.
I was 20 when The Silmarillion came out. I'd been waiting for it for seven years, and was disappointed when I bought it as soon as it came out because I was expecting a narration style like LotR.
In the years to follow I bought and enjoyed several of the HoME books, in particular the ones that were rough drafts of LotR.
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When did you find Tolkien?
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